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migrants' struggles

Last Tuesday, December the 18th, Liverpool-SolFed joined the protest called for by Liverpool Migrant Solidarity Network.

On International Migrants Day, we joined our voices for the closing down of Detention Centers and an end to deportations. Probably the most extreme aspect of the “hostile environment” that the UK is using to demonize and target vulnerable people.

Starting a new life in the UK can be intimidating. Many things are different to how they were at home. Most things are expensive, and some things are just plain difficult. There might be a new language or a new culture to contend with. Dealing with all this whilst struggling to find a job or accommodation can feel impossible. With this in mind, Manchester Solidarity Federation have put together a short guide to the city. We've tried to cover all the basics about living and working here, and where to go for help and what resources are available.

After three weeks of action, Jimmy's Restaurant (on the Brighton Marina) is still avoiding their responsibilities. Three former workers are still campaigning to get their holiday pay and their P45 documents and we keep receiving contacts of workers facing the same situation.

From the beginning, the management of the restaurant has been denying any responsibility and addressing us to the “Head Office” who, curiously enough, never answer the phone or emails.

Moreover, last week we found out that the workers, having received their payslips with their tax deductions, are not in the records of the HMRC as having worked for Jimmy's. No explanation has been given by Jimmy's but we do hope that this is a misunderstanding.

Jimmy's restaurant continues to refuse to repay its former workers over £1500 in stolen holiday pay, nor return their P45s. After contact with the initial three workers, and their friends who either have worked for or continue to work for the restaurant, we can see that their case is all but unique. Jimmy's is refusing to treat its employees with respect and we will keep fighting until they do so.

On the 24th of October, members of Swindon Anarchists, including SolFed members, took 3 vehicles crammed with supplies to the refugee camps of Calais.
As numbers at the camp swelled to over 6,000, the group decided we had a responsibility to offer what solidarity we could to men, women and children forced into cramped, cold and unhygienic conditions just for seeking a life free of war, persecution, poverty and hunger. As well as hoping to improve material conditions in the camp, we reject the concept of national borders, embrace freedom of movement for all and support all those whose circumstances have forced them into conflict with the border regime, the political class and their stooges in uniform.

Brighton Hospitality Workers was approached in May by a Kitchen Porter, at an upmarket and busy restaurant on the seafront, who had been laid off without 7 days’ notice period pay and with unpaid wages and holiday entitlement. An all-too-common situation in a city where bosses flagrantly breach employment law to squeeze as much from the workers as possible, in the full knowledge that the local authorities, trade bodies or established unions have no interest in challenging them.